School of Social and Political Science

Background

Qualifications

• MA (Edinburgh)
• MSc (Strathclyde)

Biographical statement

I joined Social Policy in 1983 after working as a civil servant and as a researcher at the University of Strathclyde. I am a political scientist and my work falls in the interconnected areas of public policy, public administration and public sector resource allocation, especially in Scotland and the UK. Earlier research projects included ones on public employment, central-local relations in Scotland, comparative European social policy and privatisation in social policy. Since the mid-1990s I have been researching, initially as part of Economic and Social Research Council programmes, the role of the Treasury, the transition to the new devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and the effect of devolution on the Home Civil Service. I teach courses on public expenditure, public sector management and public policy in Scotland at undergraduate and MSc level. During 2005 I visited Australian National University, Canberra and Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, to gain Australian and Canadian perspectives on my research projects. As part of the EU Network of Excellence on Reconciling Work and Welfare (RECWOWE, www.recwowe.eu) I am currently researching trends in public employment in European welfare states and the impact of economic circumstances in 2010-11 on the position of public sector workers.

Recent Theses

Doctoral student supervision has included recent theses on health policy in Korea, employment policy in the European Union, community involvement in land ownership in Scotland, central policy units in British government and active labour market policy in Scotland and Canada. I would particularly welcome supervisions in my research areas of public administration, public expenditure, social policy-making at all levels of government, and policy issues in devolved and federal political systems.

Publications

Deakin, Nicholas and Parry, Richard (2000), The Treasury and Social Policy, London : Macmillan

Parry, Richard (2003), 'The 2002 Spending review and its control regime' in Bochel, Ellison and Powell eds Social Policy Review 15. (Bristol: Policy Press)

Parry, Richard (2003) 'Devolution, Integration and Modernisation in the United Kingdom Civil Service', in Tony Butcher and Andrew Massey eds, Modernising Public Services (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar)

Parry, Richard (2004) 'The Civil Service and Intergovernmental Relations', Public Policy and Administration, 19:2 , 50-63

Parry, Richard (2004) 'Devolution and social security in Scotland', Benefits 12:3, 169-174

Parry, Richard (2005) 'The Civil Service response to modernisation in the devolved administrations', Financial Accountability and Management 21:1, 1-18.

McEwen, Nicola and Parry, Richard (2005) 'Devolution and the preservation of the United Kingdom welfare state' in McEwen and Moreno eds, The Territorial Politics of Welfare (London: Routledge)

Parry, Richard (2007) 'The Changing Cost of Government: trends in the state overhead budget' in Francis G. Castles ed, The Disappearing State? (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar)

Parry, Richard (2007) 'Public Service Reform and the Efficiency Agenda' in Michael Keating ed, Scottish Social Democracy (Brussels: PIE Peter Lang)

Parry, Richard (2007) 'Social Security under Devolution in the United Kingdom' in Jef van Langendonck ed, The Right to Social Security (Antwerp: Intersentia 2007)

Parry, Richard (2008) 'Social Policy and Devolution' in Alcock, May and Rowlingson eds, The Student's Companion to Social Policy 3rd ed. (Oxford: Blackwell)

Parry, Richard (2008), 'Changing UK Governance under devolution', Public Policy and Administration 23:1, 114-120

Parry, Richard (2009), 'Quangos, Agencies and the Scottish Parliament' in Charlie Jeffery and James Mitchell eds, The Scottish Parliament 1999-2009: The First Decade (Edinburgh: Luath Press)

Parry, Richard (2010), 'Reshaping structures of government across the UK' in Guy Lodge and Katie Schmuecker eds, Devolution in Practice 2010 (London: Institute for Public Policy Reseearch)